He is the CEO of Global Sports Management — based in Germany — that has signed players such as Rainer Schuettler, Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Yen-Hsun Lu among others. Dirk Hordoff (in pic) has been a regular at the ATP tournament in Chennai for the last 11 years; he is a name to reckon with in tennis coaching. Having trained a variety of players, Hordoff has developed a liking for Asian players. “They are determined, ambitious and show respect. They can do a lot better if there is a proper system. Now, there aren’t many tournaments and these players have to travel to Europe which costs a lot of money,” said the 53-year-old German.

Lu is all praise for Hordoff. One of the biggest advantages of signing up with Hordoff, according to Lu, is that he does not drop a player from his contract even if he is down with injury or experiences a slump in form. Lu said: “Harel Levy, who was ranked No. 30 in 2001, is now 119 due to injury (and his preference for doubles). Hordoff could have told him, ‘See Levy, you are ranked way below in the rankings, so you cannot be with us.’ It’s a reassuring sign that Levy is still with Global Sports Management. Many of the sports management companies, I think, don’t follow this policy. That’s the biggest advantage of signing up with Hordoff’s company. If a player signs up with Global Sports Management, he stays with the company till he himself says he wants to move away.”

North Stand and VIPs

The North Stand of the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium is for the VIPs. N. Sankar, Chairman, Sanmar Group, was surprised to be stopped by an usher. Sankar wondered why this had happened as he had a valid VIP pass. Another usher had to rush in to sort things out. Later it was gathered that several ’unauthorised’ people had found their way into the North Stand causing confusion. Hence, the ushers were asked to be strict and vigilant.